Features

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Clare Daly TD today confirmed her resignation from the Socialist Party as of Friday 31st August.

“I can confirm that yesterday I resigned from the Socialist Party and redesignate myself as a United Left Alliance (ULA) TD. I believe it is time to prioritise the building of the ULA. The success of the Household Tax Campaign and the prospect of an intensification of vicious attacks on working people in the next budget makes the building of an alternative political force, that can present a real challenge to the establishment parties, an urgent priority”

Unfortunately the potential of the ULA has not been fully realised and it is now time that the component organisations prioritised the building of the ULA.

I note with some regret the inaccurate content of the Socialist Party statement issued today. I have no intention of engaging in a public war of words with the Socialist Party leadership. I am proud of my record as a Socialist Party activist and public representative, as a shop steward representing Aer Lingus workers and a campaigner with people across Dublin North and beyond.

I will continue with the same intensity and passion to represent and fight on behalf of working people inside and out of the Dail. I will be judged on my record over twenty five years and my future record.

I have the highest of regard for the members of the Socialist Party especially those past and present who worked tirelessly with me on numerous campaigns over the last 25 years. I hope to maintain good working relations with Socialist Party members and look forward to working together as ULA members.

I will be working closely with those who have made a priority of building the ULA and offer my support and assistance to branches and members in developing the ULA nationally. I hope to see a large number of ULA candidates running in the local elections.

I will also continue to support all those fighting austerity. A real movement of people power needs to be built to stop the wave of attacks on ordinary working people.”

Scurrilous attempt to smear Socialist Party and People Before Profit Alliance TDs calculated to undermine principled opposition to Bank bailout/Austerity agenda

Mountain of public funding to establishment political parties dwarfs funds to left parties

The smear campaign orchestrated by Independent Newspapers against the Socialist Party and People Before Profit Alliance TDs is cynically calculated to try and undermine effective and principled opposition to the disastrous austerity agenda implemented to bail out the speculators and bankers who gambled and lost in the property bubble which they created.

It is scurrilous and underhanded to suggest some kind of impropriety in using a Dail travel allowance to travel around the country addressing mass meetings and rallies against the Household Tax or indeed any other issue.

Statutory Instrument 84/2010 refers clearly to a travel allowance that is to be used for ‘travel expenses which the member is obliged to incur in the performance of his or her duties as a member of Dáil Eireann.’ It is our duty to campaign for ordinary working class people against the baleful hardship imposed by the destructive austerity agenda. But there is a blatant attempt to try and smear those TDs who are to the fore in the fight against this.

Massive public funding of Establishment parties ignored in smear campaign against the Left

In creating an artificial and manufactured controversy about using part of a travel allowance to fight the austerity agenda, Independent Newspapers conveniently overlooks the massive public funding of the pro-austerity political parties. Under two headings: Party Leaders Allowance and Exchequer funding of Parties based on their first preference vote in the General Election over a 2% threshold: In 2011 Fine Gael received €4.57 million; Fianna Fail received €3.38 million; The Labour Party received €2.67 million; The Socialist Party and PBPA received €120,903 each which was audited and accounted for.

Among the uses for which the major parties can use their public funding for is ‘co-ordination of the activities and members of the party’. In essence their officers and organisers can travel the country to build their parties on public funding.